Character Contest 35 Winner!

The entries for "Character Contest 35: Road Warrior" were oustanding, thank you everyone for putting up such excellent illustrations! I really think you outdid yourselves this time around, so I've got a bunch of Finalists after the jump. Even then, I left out quite a few more that I think were also great, so this is definitely a week you could go through the comments manually and check them all out.

Before we get into them all, though, I wanted to start out with one that made me both laugh and wish that there were a movie or comic in the works for the featured character. I think it will get things off on the right foot, so I turn it over to Ian Healy's "Undead Elvis of the Apocalypse":

And away we go!

Alex's "Walker" is very well put together, and stands on its own even without any sort of background. I liked the scarf with the embroidered looking logos, the mouth wrap, and the tattoos particularly.

Coyote's "Creature" kicks butt, and the overlay of the city background on the web works great.

Another entry in the "Creature" column is Decolda's "Tank'ed", one of the most impressive chimera-like creations I have seen to date, it has a real sense of menace and presence about it.

Doomed Pixel nails the whole holocaust vibe with his "Scavenger", especially the Aztec calendar in the sun and the streaking fireballs.

I liked all three of E_N's related characters and their stories, but ultimately I chose "Radd" not only for the overall effectiveness of the composition, but particularly for that awesome cleaver staff. That's the exact kind of thing I'd love to see in a post-apocalyptic scene, I just love it.

Felipe S. Card's "The Outlander" was the first one I came to that made me give an audible "Wow!". He's got a real Jonah Hex by way of Mel Gibson feel to him, especially with the robot arm and half metal face, cowboy hat, and rifle over the shoulder.

I liked these two Gargoyle323 characters so much, I couldn't decide which to include. So I am using them both, sue me! They both ooze personality (literally, I suspect) and while the color scheme is the kind of thing that would usually turn me off, it works here. Outstanding work. First is "Big Bang Benny", then "Happy Jack".

I love Imp's use of the motorcycle here to infuse the composition with life and oomph. The character's pretty great, too, and then the name just brings it all home. Here's "Chief Quickdeath":

Nathan said he didn't have any story in mind, but just "threw together" all the Mad Max type stuff he could find, but you certainly can't tell there was no plan with this guy:

Neon Sequitur made great use of Anarchangel's steampunk guitar, with the addition of a flamethrower and a hot (again, literally) pink motorcyle for a gal you'd definitely not want to aggravate, his "Guitar Heroine".

I don't think I need to say anything about Rancid's pig man, other than "Pork it up, pal":

I'd say how much I like the head on Rhinoman's "The Drifter", or the nice custom weapon, but who are we kidding -- I'm a sucker for a mutant chimp. Always have been.

Rico's "Spyke" is a good character, but I chose it as a Finalist because of that background. It rules. Along with Doomed Pixel's, these are the best backgrounds of the contest, really selling the idea of a world after a horrible holocaust.

Sutter Kain's vaguely stunned "Feral Errol" has a lot of character to it, and definitely stood out from the other entries as a unique take. Not everyone gets to drive motorcycles and wear spiked shoulder pads, you know!

Which brings us to our overall winner. The character overall is strong, with all the elements working. The use of a couple of spotlight colors to relieve the brown and beige palette adds punch to the whole illustration. And I love the use of the flared coat bottom (I really need to add a version of those for Doomed Pixel's prize in the HM2 contest). The clincher for me, odd as it sounds, is the face. It's not even as if there's anything super radical about it, I just like it a lot. It says to me this is a guy who's been through hell, and come out the other end having kicked ass and ready to take some names.

I give you Bloodless Rose's "Marcus Caine":

I will say this was one of the closest contests in a long time, I could easily have (and almost did!) go with any one of six of the other Finalists, but this one just hit me the right way. Congratulations to Bloodless Rose, who wins either any item he or she likes, or a portrait, to be included in the final HeroMachine 3 version!

And thanks again to everyone who entered, you all did a fantastic job.

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36 Responses to Character Contest 35 Winner!

Yes, he was one of those that could easily have been a finalist, it was very good. I just felt like I had a lot of a certain type and was already way over the number I usually like to post, it’s no reflection on you Fyzza!

All great entries, guys! I’m not much into the whole Post-Apocalyptic Road Warrior scene, but these were impressive. I especially liked Guitar Heroine’s slogan, “It’s your turn to cook.” Nice touch! I use HeroMachine to make the occasional old-school hero in cape and tights. Y’all are using it to make art.

Congrats Bloodless Rose and to all others(even those that did not place).I think everybody out did themselves on this one!!!
If you have not looked at all the entries,you really should check them out.Thank you Jeff for selecting two of my entries.I did not expect to place this week because of all the awesome work from everyone.I am kind of shocked! Thank you!

The design depended on the individual interpretation of the apocalypse. My overall angle was character simplicity such as Imp’s “Chief Quickdeath” and Nathan’s Road Warrior. Sutter Kain’s “Feral Errol” for same, a regular guy in shock.

With the mutant sci-fi characters, Rhinoman’s “The Drifter”, Gargoyle323’s “Happy Jack”, and Rancid’s “Junk Yard”. One of our GM’s ran Gamma World. Loved the concept, didn’t care much for the gaming system itself.

My personal favorite is Ian’s “Catholic School Girl of the Apocalypse”. I could see her as Ms. April in the American Autoduel Association (AADA) 2037 calendar.

Congrats Bloodless and everyone mentioned.
I wanna point out that I’ve been mentioned in every character contest that i have entered.Thanks Jeff.I’m very proud of myself:)
PS:I have a suggestion for the next character contest.I was thinking best assassin.

I was so happy the theme was Mad Max. Being a complete and utter post apocalyptic fiction fan, I freaked. I could of submitted a good 20 more submissions beside the three I submitted. I had made Radd a few months ago and retouched him for the contest along with my two other submissions. Knowing what won, I wished I selected others to submit instead. I tried to submit my more grounded characters that really fit the theme of the Mad Max universe and paid attention to how each object interacted on the character. I agree with Atomic Punk when he said the design depended on the individual interpretation of the apocalypse. I won’t lie and say I’m not a littler disappointed I wasn’t a finalist, seeing as it’s right up my alley, but I can say ,for this being my first contest, I’m incredibly honored. I look forward to the next contest. My favorite was Rico’s “Spyke”, it was well put together and had a monkey. Also Congrats Bloodless.

Hope everyone’s having a fine holiday. After putting in a full workday it was great to come home and see that ‘Guitar Heroine’ was a finalist in this week’s contest, especially after seeing all the competition. Lots of great stuff this time around! Feral Errol in particular made me laugh out loud… and then cringe in fear just a bit.

Jeff and Niall; thanks very much, I’m glad you liked my entry. (Soon as I saw that guitar, I *knew* where I was going with this….) I really enjoy the caption feature, as it adds another dimension to a character’s personality if they have something to say — there’s a “one-liner” on most of the HM pix I’ve done.

again thanks everyone, this was my second try at a HM contest and i had fun making it but then again wenever i’ve got a free hour or so and a good working computer lol i go on here and play around, and if any of you have ever read the Vampire Hunter D manga novels, thats what i loosely based Marcus on, but i admit he’s named after my little nephew who pulls that face in a tantrum lol

Thanks Imp for the kind words! I am shocked how well my characters turned out(I am more of a cartoonish super hero kind of guy). Also,I believe that everybody rocked on this theme. My favorite was Ian’s “Catholic Schoolgirl of the Apocalypse”.Jeff must of had a really hard time choosing the winners.

1ST off let me say what an honour it is to be a finalist seriously when i was scrolling down then saw my character it felt pretty damn good i got to admit
so thank you jeff
also thanks to E_N for the kind words =]

cannot wait for the next 1
any idea what or when coz to be honest ive been slightly addicted to heromachine for years but only discovered the contests 3 weeks ago
its like crack to me

1ST off let me say what an honour it is to be a finalist seriously when i was scrolling down then saw my character it felt pretty damn good i got to admit
so thank you jeff
also thanks to E_N for the kind words =]

cannot wait for the next 1
any idea what or when coz to be honest ive been slightly addicted to heromachine for years but only discovered the contests 3 weeks ago
now its like crack to me

1ST off let me say what an honour it is to be a finalist seriously when i was scrolling down then saw my character it felt pretty damn good i got to admit
so thank you jeff
also thanks to E_N for the kind words =]

cannot wait for the next 1
any idea what or when coz to be honest ive been slightly addicted to heromachine for years but only discovered the contests 3 weeks ago
now its like crack to me